**West Ham played a behind-closed-doors friendly against Brentford today, with ExWHUEmployee providing the details.**
Sticking with the current 5-3-2 formation, and a strong first XI (missing obviously the international players), the one surprising detail was Irving being tried in the LCB position next to Emerson. Although new, Irving has the physique of a centre back being quite tall and is good on the ball from his natural midfielder role so will be interesting to see if this is something that is tried in competition play.
Fabianski Wan Bissaka, Kilman, Todibo, Irving, Emerson Soler, Paqueta, Rodriguez,
Guilherme, Ings
West Ham started brightly, having the better possession. Although, typical of the Potter regime so far, this didn’t result in any fluid attacking play. Luis Guilherme was the one bright mention, making runs with pace and looking to take his man on but offered no real threat in truth.
Ings was largely absent up front and the midfield struggled to find the final pass with Paqueta continuing his frustrating ineffective form.
Irving looked comfortable at CB, didn’t panic when pressed and good with the ball with his feet as expected.
Fabianski didn’t have a save to note at all in the first half and the Brentford keeper made 1 ‘half save’ which tells the story of the first half.
2nd half XI
Foderingham, Wan Bissaka, Mayers, Irving, Todibo, Emerson Soler, Rodriguez, Paqueta,
Fullkrug, Guilherme
The 2nd half started poorly for West Ham, conceding a goal due to poor concentration, tapped in unmarked at the back post after a low cross into the box from the left. This was disappointing as Brentford lacked their own cutting edge in the 1st half and we looked comfortable.
The rest of the 2nd half was playing in the same manner of the 1st, which Foderingham making no saves of note, only making one contribution in rushing out to meet a Brentford throughball. But the same can be said of Brentford’s goalkeeper. Even the introduction of the returning Fullkrug at half time couldn’t create a spark, struggling to get involved in the game.
This was confirmed when he looked to be in a good position to get a shot off but the ball became tangled in his feet (similar to the Ferguson chance v Leicester) but he’ll need game time before making a judgement.
One positive West Ham detail was our ability to win possession. We pressed all over the pitch and put Brentford under a lot of pressure whilst they was playing their usual ‘playing out from the back’ style. But our final 3rd failings let us down. Shots were sent into the stands, crosses were put straight into the goalkeepers hands and tells the story of the season so far.
Ward Prowse and Cresswell also came on but couldn’t influence the play for West Ham.
Another positive note was some minutes for the youth players, who didn’t look out of place amongst their 1st team counterparts. Junior Robinson came on for Wan Bissaka and looked good as did Preston Fearon particularly who looked to push the team forward from midfield with some good forward dribbling and passes out wide.
The game finished 1-0 to Brentford. In summary undeserved as Brentford didn’t offer any threat of their own going forward but one lapse in concentration let us down and our lack of attacking ability meant we couldn’t get the goal we needed
The game was played with good intensity at a level you’d expect a league game to be played, and gave the fringe players some much needed minutes. But for Potter this will be another frustrating display in front of goal.